M Swimming & Diving

Swimming & Diving Place Fifth at Sewanee Invitational

Nov 03, 2012

Kelsey Wiese and Samantha Norman led the way with a combined three event victories as both the men's and women's team placed fifth overall.

BRISTOL, Tenn. – King Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving participated in the Sewanee Invitational this weekend. Both teams placed fifth after the two-day event, hosted by Sewanee: University of the South on Friday and Saturday. Kelsey Wiese and Samantha Norman earned a combined three event wins to lead both squads.

Coming off of another week that she won a pair of events, Wiese added two more to victories to her name after taking the 50-yard freestyle and 100 free events at the Sewanee Invitational. The junior clocked in at 25.39 in the 50 free, just 0.02 seconds ahead of Berry College's Rachel Sandoval.

The Gallatin, Tenn. native came back and won the 100 free, finishing the event by just over one-half second ahead of Michelle Billeaud of Brenau University. She finished four passes in the pool in 54.87 to take the win.

Teammate Samantha Norman (Roanoke, Va.) posted the only other event win for either Tornado team. The freshman placed first overall in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:15.22.

The women's team featured two more top-3 individual finishes with Malorie McBride's third place finish in the 500 free (5:45.36) and Rachel Fuller's third place finish in the 200 free (2:05.32).

On the men's side, Alek Nochowicz (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) and Reynold Thibideau (Titusville, Fla.) each put up a third place finish in their respective events. Nochowicz was timed at 5:21.01 in the 500 freestyle while Thibideau clocked in a 2:11.01 in the 200-yard IM, less than three seconds off the pace of the race winner.

The relay teams for the Tornado turned in three third place finishes and one second place finish. In the 100 free relay, both teams placed third. The women's relay team comprised of Wiese, Fuller, Kelsey Copeland, and Michele Donihe finished the event in 49.91. Taylor Horton, Christian Knobloch, Jacob Morales, and Thibideau made up the men's 100 free relay team and finished in 44.36, less than a second away from a win.

The women's 200 free relay team (Wiese, Copeland, Sarah Hennies, Fuller) finished second with a time of 1:47.10 while the men's 200 free team (Nochowicz, Knoblauch, Horton, Morales) finished in 1:34.94, good for a third place finish.

After the scored were tabulated, both the men and the women's team finished in fifth place. In a pool of eight teams, the women finished fifth by scoring 346.0 points. Out of seven teams, the men placed fifth with 259.5 points.

The Tornado will take both teams to the University of the Cumberlands and compete in a double dual meet with the Patriots and Milligan College on Nov. 10. The meet will begin at 1 p.m.